Apple has sneakily put the UK iPad data plans up on its website before networks Orange, O2 and Vodafone have had a chance to issue news themselves—and what's obvious so far is that it pays to shop around.

O2 surprisingly is offering more data for its buck, with 500MB offered for £2 per day, whereas Orange is only giving 200MB a day for the same rate. From there, different time periods are offered, with O2 charging £10 for 1GB of data across a month, and Orange charging £7.50 for 1GB of data a week.

Both networks are charging £15 for 3GB of data a month, but if you're a heavy user it's looking like Orange is offering the most in total—10GB for £25 a month. Vodafone has found itself with the rough end of the stick, charging £25 for 5GB of data a month, or £10 for 250MB a month. Really, Vodafone—how many subscribers do you intend on getting with those rates?

Advertisement

iPad prices in the UK aren't much higher than in the US, once you take into account taxes. The Wi-Fi versions will cost £429 for 16GB, £499 for 32GB and £599 for 64GB, with the 3G models coming in at £529, £599 and £699 each. [Apple]